Knowing the Will of GodBelieving for the Impossible

“Thus speaketh the Lord God of Israel, saying,Write thee all the words that I have spoken unto thee in a book.”

Jeremiah 30:2

Knowing the Will of GodBelieving for the Impossible

“The author who benefits you is not the onewho tells you something you did not know before,

but the one who gives expression to the truththat has been struggling for utterance in you.”

Oswald Chambers

Shad Williams

SWEA2009

Copyright © 2009 by Shad Williams

International Standard Book Number: 978-0-615-29212-0

All Scripture references are taken from the King James Bible.

All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsysterm, or transmitted by any means without written permission from the author.

Printed in the United States of America by Instant Publishers; Collierville, TN.

Cover DesignThe cover of this book was designed by our daughter, Rachel Busse, but it is not just

another one of her creative and clever designs. It actually comes from an experience I hadwith God early one morning in the summer of 1976. One year earlier, God had unmistak-ably spoken to Sheila and me about going into international evangelism. A year later, how-ever, I was still wrestling with just how to go about it.

During that summer , the Lord began waking me up every morning at 4:30. Every dayI would throw on some jeans and a tee shirt, grab my Bible, and go down to a park near ourhouse to walk and pray. This went on for weeks, and one morning as I was praying out loudI uttered these words, “Lord, I guess there is just no other way for us to do this; I guess it hasto be by faith.” As soon as the word “faith” came out of my mouth the heel of my shoecaught on something in the grass. When I looked down, I saw a large piece of concrete andin it was written the word FAITH. I could not believe my eyes. I knelt down and ran my handacross the word to make sure I was seeing what I thought I was. Right then and there, whileI was kneeling, I said, “Lord, we don’t need to discuss this any longer. My question isanswered for good. We are going to do this and we are going to do it by faith.” As I stood tomy feet, I knew in my heart that I had embarked upon a new journey, the journey of faith. Ialso sensed that I was about to take some higher-level classes in the school of faith. I wasright. I have never graduated from Faith University and never will, but I have taken manychallenging and interesting courses. Much of what I have learned so far is contained in thepages of this book.

Ten years later my friend, Dr. Philip Eyster, was supervising the production of a videofor our ten-year ministry anniversary. As part of the video I shared with him the story ofwhat happened in the park that day. He went to the park to see if the concrete was still thereand sure enough it was. He outlined the letters in white and took a picture of it. He used thatpicture in the video and gave me a framed print of it, which has hung on my office wall eversince. When it came time to design a cover for this book, there was no question as to whatit should look like. It had to be THAT picture that Phil took in the park long ago. The word“real” was fabricated by my talented daughter, but the word “faith” appears exactly as it is inthat photo taken long ago. As we walk through life, stumbling is usually not considered tobe a good thing. But as I discovered that day in the park, when we stumble across real faithit can be the greatest moment in our life. May it be so for you, my dear brother or sister inChrist, may it be so for you.

This book is dedicated to:

My pastor – Rev. Don J. Milam(1910 – 1995)

Brother Don was the man God used to introduce Sheila and meto Jesus and to help us through the difficult beginning stages

of our Christian life. He was our constant source ofencouragement and spiritual guidance until his death.

He correctly viewed our life and ministry as an extensionof his own. Because of Brother Don’s relentless pursuit

and determination to see us saved, Sheila and I are in theKingdom of God, and because of his example to usof what it truly means to live for Christ, we are now

being used of God to help expand it.

My friend – Rev. Dr. W. Wayne Allen(1939 – 2005)

Brother Wayne was the man God used to help propel us alongin the life of faith. He was one of the most outstanding examples

in my life of what it means to believe God for the impossible.He was the living embodiment of the verse of Scripture he

so often quoted, Matthew 19:26, “With men this is impossible;but with God all things are possible.” Brother Wayne believed

in our ministry as much as any person we have ever knownand enthusiastically encouraged us to push forward by faith.

My Father – Leland S. Williams(1920 – 2002)

My Dad was the man God used to provide me with a pictureof what it means to be a father. From my earliest memory

he was always the man who could do anything and get anything,and he was always ready to do it for me. In my childhoodhe represented total security and unconditional approval.

He not only provided but did so in excess. Because of my Dadthe word father produces an image in my mind of total love,provision, and acceptance. It is that image transferred intomy Christian life that makes it so easy for me to believe

that my Heavenly Father can be trusted to do anything andprovide everything – and He will do it for ME.

ContentsPreface

Acknowledgement

Introduction to the Second Edition

1. Getting StartedA New Approach to the Christian Life

2. HindrancesResisting the Lies of the Enemy

3. Explainable Only in Terms of God

4. Living in Two WorldsPart One : The Way It Was Supposed to Be

5. Living in Two WorldsPart Two : What Went Wrong?

6. Living in Two WorldsPart Three : How Do We Get Back?

7. An Operational Definition

8. Two Realms : Natural and Spiritual

9. Real Faith : The Real Issue with Jesus

10. Real Faith : Beyond the Gospels

11. Real Love : The Driving Forceof Real Faith

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24

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62

72

85

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105

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12. Misconceptions

13. The Faith Life Is a Spirit-Filled LifePart One: What It Meansto Be Spirit-Filled

14. The Faith Life Is a Spirit-Filled LifePart Two : How to Be Spirit-Filled

15. Real Faith Requires Time Alone with GodThe Necessity of Real Worship

16. Real Faith Requires KnowingGod’s Will First

17. God’s Will Is Revealedon the Inside

18. God’s Will in Our Daily Routine

19. Coming to the Knowledge of God’s Will

20. Drawn to the Will of GodPart One : By Need and Desire

21. Drawn to the Will of GodPart Two : By God’s Word,,Holy4Spirit

Prompting, or Calling to Service

22. The Faith Process ExplainedBelieving God in a Faith Event

23. The Faith Process IllustratedPart One : From the Bibleand Christian History

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24. The Faith Process IllustratedPart Two : From Personal Experience

25. The Faith Process Applied

26. Real Faith Requires Real Warfare

27. Real Faith and The Timing of GodHolding On Beyond the Deadlines

28. God Uses the Unexpected

29. Real Faith Requires Real Obedience

30. Real Faith Results in Real Giving

31. Real Faith Requires Letting Go

Source Notes

Appendix: How to Have a Clean Heart

Author Biographical Note

Ministry Profile

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PrefaceThis book is written to provide the Christian church and the world-

wide Christian mission force with a practical guide as to how to truly liveby faith and thus overcome the powers of darkness, enhance their Chris-tian life, and expand the Kingdom of God. The majority of Christiansthroughout the world live far below their privilege and potential becausethey are deceived by the lies of the devil and enslaved by the limitations ofthe visible. So many enter the Christian life by faith and then attempt tolive it by sight. The vast majority of the church is unknowingly wanderingin the wilderness of unbelief, in search of freedom and power that they willnever possess without discovering a life of real Bible faith. This book isintended to help God’s children, new Believers and seasoned warriors alike,escape the status quo and the deceptions of satan and enter into the prom-ised land of real, overcoming, life-altering faith.

It is my intent and goal to help my brothers and sisters in Jesus dis-cover the liberating truth that it is absolutely possible to clearly know thewill of God and boldly believe Him for the impossible. The content con-tained in these pages has been arranged in such a way so as to lead thereader from start to finish through the process of actually knowing the willof God and accessing the power and resources of God in relation to spe-cific needs and circumstances in his or her life.

There is a great deal of error and misunderstanding regarding the sub-ject of faith in the modern church. On the one hand are those who attemptto trust God by faith without an adequate understanding of what is requiredto make that possible. On the other hand are those who reject any idea ofbelieving God for the impossible as an impossibility in itself. The corre-sponding result is confusion, disillusionment, disappointment, discourage-ment, and defeat. An extended purpose of this book is to help protect thechurch, the body of Christ, from misguided and erroneous ideas and tohelp them find the true, balanced, scriptural life of faith that is availablefor all Believers.

My wife and I were saved in the summer of 1968 and sensed the call ofGod upon our life immediately. It did not take long for us to realize thatGod was not only calling us to the ministry of evangelism but also to a lifeof faith. As young new Believers we were perfectly willing to cast our-selves upon the Lord and trust Him by faith. We were even enthusiasticabout it. All we had, however, was enthusiasm. We were excited about

trusting God, but we did not have a clue as to how to go about it. Weneeded an instruction book and there wasn’t one. We read the great ex-ploits of faith in the Bible and believed all of them. We read every biogra-phy we could get our hands on – Hudson Taylor, George Muller, C.T. Studd– and marveled at their faith. But the question remained, how do we makethis work in our lives?

When God called us into this ministry that we have been in now for thepast thirty-two years, we embarked upon it by faith, which we were happyto do. But, again, we did not have a clear grasp as to how to go about it,how to live it out practically in our daily life. And I will be the first to admitthat in those early years I made a lot of mistakes, mistakes that cost myfamily unnecessarily, mistakes that slowed the development of the minis-try, and mistakes I would not have made if I had had a practical, definitiveguide as to how to go about knowing the clear will of God and trustingHim by real, legitimate faith. It would have saved me a lot of time just tohave a clear and accurate understanding of what faith really is. My goal inthis book is to provide for my brothers and sisters in Jesus the guide andthe help that I so desperately needed and did not have.

Someone asked me one day during a seminar on field evangelism inMalawi, Africa, “Brother Shad, where did this material come from that youare teaching us in this seminar?” I told him, “Brother, I spent twenty yearsmaking mistakes and eliminating everything that does not work in fieldevangelism, and what you are getting in this seminar is everything that isleft.” I could say the same thing about this book. I have discovered over thepast forty years of living by faith, many things that may sound good andlook good but are not true and don’t work. They are not in this book, butthe things that are true and that do work are. They are the component partsof the life of real Bible faith. It is my prayer and desire that this bookprovide you with a guide that will take you to the summit of “faith moun-tain” and allow you to look across the landscape of the victorious Christianlife that you have suspected to be possible but have not yet fully enjoyed.

NOTE: Even though it is gramatically correct to capitalize all proper names, Ihave, as a matter of personal conviction, deliberately not capitalized the name“satan” throughout this book unless it appears at the beginning of a sentence.

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Acknowledgement

If it were not for the help and encour-agement of my wife, Sheila, this bookwould not exist.

Because of her expertise in so manyareas applied to this work, and because ofher stubborn refusal to allow me to give upon it, it has reached its completion. I didnot realize just what a spiritual battle itwould be to put in writing the things Godhas taught us over the years about living byfaith. But it certainly has been, and Sheila

has stood by me and with me in the warfare for more than four years ofwork on this project.

It is her strength that has sustained me in the most difficult hours. It isher unwavering belief in me that has on so many occasions enabled me towrite the next page, the next chapter. It is her vast knowledge of Scripture,her grasp of theology, and her deep understanding of living by faith thathas helped me maintain dead-on accuracy from beginning to end. It is herwalking with me through more than forty years of life and faith experi-ences that has provided me a dependable, reliable sounding board. It is herbelieving prayers with me and for me that have provided me with the su-pernatural strength and understanding needed to write this book.

To all of this must be added Sheila’s great literary skill, her commandof the English language, her expert editing ability, and her computer profi-ciency. This book reads the way it reads because my wife took what I wroteand made it readable. It looks the way it looks because she worked tire-lessly to make it attractive, interesting, and appealing. It settles upon yourheart as “right” because Sheila made sure that it is.

My wife is the most amazing woman I have ever known, and nothingin my life would be complete without her, including this book. I thank Godthat because of her, you hold “Real Faith” in your hand.

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Introductionto the Second Edition

Dear friend, I rejoice that God has led you to read this book. I pray itwill be a blessing and an encouragement to you as you walk with God dayby day. I pray it will enhance, deepen, and expand your Christian life andenable you to better minister to others. I assure you the devil does not wantyou to read it because there are many empowering, liberating, and life-changing truths contained in these pages he does not want you to know.There are two things you can expect from the enemy. To begin with, he willattempt to prevent you from getting started in the first place. Then onceyou do begin, he will try to stop you before you finish. Therefore, I have acouple of suggestions for you. First, do not put off starting this study. Don’twait until you “have time” or “have no distractions” or “go on vacation.”DO IT NOW. Then once you have begun, do not stop and start over, asmany have told me they have done. Do not begin by “studying” the book.Just read it – all the way through from beginning to end. Don’t worry aboutwhat you are retaining or what you are missing. Just read it. This will pro-vide you with a panoramic overview of the life of faith. Then once youhave read the book in its entirety, go back to the beginning and study itchapter by chapter. Underline, outline, highlight, make notes, and what-ever else helps you to retain and apply what you study. Also, do not skiparound from place to place. The chapters are arranged in a certain sequencebecause one builds upon the other.

Chapters 1-12 deal with the fact that living by faith is God’s PLAN forevery Christian. Then in chapters 13-25 we find that real Bible faith exer-cised in the life of the believer is the PROCESS by which God transfersHis will from heaven to earth. Finally in chapters 26-31 we discover thatreal faith is God’s PROGRAM for the victorious Christian life.

Now let me say one more thing before you begin reading. When I wrotethis book, I did so assuming that everyone who reads it would be a born-again child of God. Since publishing it, however, I have discovered that isnot always the case. Therefore, if you have any doubt or question whatso-ever regarding your relationship to Jesus Christ, I suggest you begin bylooking at the appendix in the back of this book entitled “How to Have aClean Heart.” There you will find very simple instructions on how to besure you are saved. Once that is settled, begin your study in faith and mayGod bless you as you do.

Chapter 1Getting StartedA New Approach

to the Christian Life“The Christian experience, from start to finish, is a journey of faith.

Through it we come into possession of a new life and through itwe walk by this new life. Faith is the life principle of a Christian.”

Watchman Nee (1)

I n order for our Christian life to be pleasing to God it must be lived by faith – REAL faith. For most Christians the concept of living in total dependence upon God for everything at all times is a

very radical and totally new idea. It is a whole new approach to the Chris-tian life. I have entitled this chapter “Getting Started” in faith, but the truthis, if you are a child of God you have already begun. You took your firststep in real faith the moment you invited the Lord Jesus to come into yourheart. The impossible became reality by your act of believing upon JesusChrist to do for you what you could not do for yourself, to transfer youfrom the domain of hell into the Kingdom of God. You started in faith bymaking a simple choice to believe in what you could not see or touch. Nowyou must live in faith by continuing to make that same choice. “As ye havetherefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him” (Colossians2:6). How did you receive Him? By faith. How do you continue in Him?By faith. In order to live the life that God intends for you to live, the lifethat you were born by God’s Spirit to live, you must discover how to liveby faith. There are many reasons why, but the most important one is that“Without faith it is impossible to please him…” (Hebrews 11:6). As chil-dren of God, we are endowed by our Heavenly Father with the capacity forfaith for the purpose of bringing honor and glory to Him.

Now - let me ask you a question; when you hear the word “faith”, whatdo you think of? Is it Moses standing at the Red Sea and the waters part-ing? Is it Joshua marching around the walls of Jericho? Or is it blind Bar-timaeus stumbling through the crowd to get to Jesus to be healed? Maybe itis Peter stepping out of the boat and walking to Jesus on the water. Thoseare certainly remarkable examples of the exercise of faith as related to

special faith events in Bible history. But, as we will learn, God never in-tended that the demonstration and living out of faith should be confined tothe events that took place in the Bible. Faith is a way of life, and we aregoing to discover that living by faith is the privilege and the responsibilityof every person who knows Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

We will develop a full definition of faith later on, but to get started,let’s make four brief beginning observations.

1. First, faith is the plan of God for every Believer. “…as it is written,The just shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17).

2. Second, the capacity of faith is provided by God and is given toevery child of God as a personal possession. “…according as Godhath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Romans 12:3).

3. Third, faith is the power of the Christian life. “…and this is thevictory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).

4. Fourth, God’s word makes it very clear that the exercise of faith isrequired to please God. “But without faith it is impossible to pleasehim…” (Hebrews 11:6).

Learning a New LanguageSo we see from the start that faith is essential to the Christian life. You

could accurately say that faith IS the Christian life. We are going to learnthat the subject of faith is vast and takes time to grasp. I know you want tolearn as much as you can as fast as you can. That is why you are readingthis book. It is best, however, to not get in too much of a hurry. Learning tolive by faith takes time, so let it. It is like learning a new language. It maybe a struggle at first, but in time an amazing thing happens; you just wakeup one day and you are speaking the language. That thing you have struggledso hard to grasp has now grasped you. You will find the same to be truewith learning to live by faith. Faith is the language of the Spirit of God, thelanguage that enables us to fully and freely communicate with Him.

I remember my first day in New Testament Greek class. I looked at thefirst page of that Greek grammar book and thought, “You have to be kid-ding! There is no way I can ever learn this stuff!” I was right; I couldn’tlearn it. I had to discover it; I had to absorb it. It had to become part of me.Then one day an amazing thing happened, I opened up the Greek NewTestament and could actually read it! It was a miracle! Dear friend, myadvice to you is to approach this study in faith the same way. Discover it,absorb it, and allow it to become part of you.

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Scaling New HeightsEmbarking upon the study of faith is also somewhat like climbing a

mountain. The only way to do it is to start at the bottom and slowly workyour way up. Experienced climbers know that it is necessary to stop at basecamps along the way in order to get acclimated tothe thinning oxygen supply. Well, the one who ismaking the climb of faith will discover the same thing.God will take you along for a certain distance andthen you will need to stop and get acclimated inyour experience. Then you can move on to the nextlevel. The mountain climber must learn as he goes along to rely on lessoxygen than he has been accustomed to. Likewise the faith climber mustlearn to rely on less of his own resources, his own abilities, his old way oflife, and his old way of thinking. Again let me suggest that you not expectto absorb it all by just reading one or two isolated chapters of this book. Itwon’t happen that way. But as you read and absorb, chapter by chapter, thelight will begin to dawn and you will begin to see clearly the way of faith.For most it is a new way and requires making adjustments. As reflected inthe subtitle of this chapter, we are talking about,what may be for many anentirely new approach to the Christian life. Again, just give it time, and asyou pray each chapter back to God you will assuredly begin to “acclimate.”

Have you ever wondered why some climbers make it to the top andsome don’t? At the beginning of the climb everyone has the same goal, thesame distance to climb, the same equipment, the same clothing, the sameinstructions, and the same guide leading them. So what makes the differ-ence in who makes it and who doesn’t? Well, of course, sheer strength andstamina play a part, but quite often the key factors are desire, determina-tion, and just plain old refusal to quit. Friends, the faith climb is very muchlike that. It is not a question of how much faith a person has. Faith is not aforce; it is a capacity. Every Believer is endowed by God with the exactsame capacity to trust, to believe, and to walk by faith. No Christian hasany greater capacity for faith than anyone else; again quoting Romans 12:3“…according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.” It isnot a question of having, but of using. It is not faith possessed that con-quers, but faith exercised. As we go through this study you will very likelyneed some of that “plain old refusal to quit.” The devil does not want youto discover how to live by faith, because if you do you will become a seri-ous threat to the powers of darkness. Satan is going to try to prevent you

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from ever beginning the climb, and if you do start, then he will try to knockyou off the mountain with discouragement and confusion. Don’t you listento him. Just follow the instructions of your Guide and keep focused on thepeak. I talked to a doctor one day who was going to Tanzania to climbMount Kilimanjaro. I asked him why he was going to do that. He repliedvery simply, “I want to.” There it was; there was the defining ingredient.Dear Christian, if you master the life of faith it will be for one reason, notbecause you have to but because you want to.

It is my prayer that this study will ignite in you a desire to learn thelanguage and ascend the heights of faith. Don’t get discouraged when youhave to rest and review, when you have to stop occasionally at a base campand catch your breath. Everybody does. As we have said, base camps (rest-ing places) are part of the process. That is why opportunities for rest, reflec-tion and review are provided for you at the close of each chapter. Remem-ber, and I can’t say it often enough, learning to live by faith is a process.

Clearing the Way for Real FaithSpeaking of processes, let me share one with you. Our home in Ten-

nessee, which my wife Sheila named “Pilgrim’s Rest,” was built on a beau-tiful piece of property that came to us as a tremendous blessing from God.But, there were a few obstacles to overcome before building could begin.First the deed had to be settled, which was made challenging by the factthat the surveyors incorrectly shot the south boundary three hundred feettoo far north, putting it right through our kitchen. It was quite an ordeal,but it was all eventually settled, the deedwas filed at the courthouse, and wecould finally say with confidence thatwe really owned the property. But thenthere was another problem; there wasno access to the property from the road.We discovered, however, that the prop-erty between our land and the road wasowned by a wonderful Christian man who was willing to sell us enough ofit for a driveway . So now we had a deed to the land and a way to get to it,but there were still two more hurdles to clear. There was not a flat spot onthe property large enough to adequately contain the footprint of the house,and the property was completely covered with trees. Sheila always saidthat she would like to move out of the city and find a place in the country

Faith is unutterable trust in God which never dreams

that He will not stand by us.Oswald Chambers (2)

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with lots of trees. Well, we had trees all right - nothing but trees.It became apparent from the very beginning that every aspect of this

building project was going to be an issue of faith and it would be a whilebefore these pilgrims could rest at Pilgrim’s Rest. But, the process did

begin. First, the footing was dug andthe concrete poured. Then the blockswere laid and the floor joists were set.Next came the sub-floor and then thewalls were framed. Then came the roofrafters, shingles, bricklaying, and soon until the structure was complete andwe had moved in. After it was finishedI realized that it was a perfect picture

of the development of the faith life. Let me show you.Before the faith life can be built into a person, God must first secure

the deed to the “property.” He did that in you and me by paying the highestprice possible with the shed blood of His Son. But ownership is not enough,evidenced by the fact that many of God’s children are not yet living byfaith. In addition to ownership, God, through the Holy Spirit, must be givenfree access to our life. As we will discuss later on, many people receiveChrist as Savior but then go no further. They escape the slavery of Egyptbut then become trapped in the “wilderness.” They seem to never developa real, working, productive fellowship with God.

So how does God gain full access to a Christian’s life? He does it bymeans of two things: destruction and construction. II Corinthians 5:17 saysthat in the life of every Believer, “…old things are passed away; behold,all things are become new.” Before we began preparing our property forthe construction of Pilgrim’s Rest, some destruction had to take place. Thefirst time we saw the property was in the fall and it was absolutely beauti-ful. The issue, however, was not appearance but suitability for building.That required making some changes on the land. The bulldozers, back-hoes, and gravel trucks came in and attacked that place with a vengeance.Trees were cleared to create a driveway and more trees came down to makeroom for the house. Then deep utility ditches were dug along each side ofthe drive and huge mounds of dirt were formed on the property along withgigantic piles of logs and brush. Within a couple of days the place lookedlike a disaster area. In time, however, the ultimate goal was realized. Onthat land there now sits the envisioned house. It is surrounded by beautiful

All God’s giants have beenweak men who did great

things forGod because theyreckoned on His being with them.

J. Hudson Taylor (3)

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landscaping, railed fences, and ornamental trees which take the place ofsome of the ones cleared away. Now the property is not only more beauti-ful than it was before, but it is also occupied. It all happened because Sheilaand I made a decision. We allowed the contractor to do the destruction sothat he could then do what we really hired him to do - the construction ofthe desired building. You see, it is not enough for your Christian life to justlook good. In order for it to be useful to God, it must be completely occu-pied by the Holy Spirit. In order for that to happen some changes are goingto have to be made. You must be willing for the Contractor of Heaven toremove some things from your life and replace them with Himself, withHis plan and purpose, with the one thing that brings glory to Him - the lifeof real faith. Are you ready to do that?

I suspect that as you consider the task of learning this new language offaith, as you gaze upwards to the highest peak of “Faith Mountain”, and asyou consider turning the page to the next chapter of this book, there mayvery possibly be some questions, doubts, or objections arising in your mindand heart. I would be surprised if that did NOT happen. The very last thingthat satan wants for any child of God to discover is that it is possible to livebeyond the limitations of the visible. The devil does not want you to knowthat you have been given the capacity and privilege of believing God forthe miraculous and impossible. When Sheila and I first stood down in thewoods on our property, it was very hard for us to envision a house standingthere. Why? Because we were totally surrounded by trees. All we could seewere the hindrances. As you make the effort to embark upon the climb offaith, you may very well encounter some hindrances, some “trees” grow-ing on the property of your Christian life, that need to be cleared away sothat God can begin building in you the life of faith.

There is an old expression that says, “You can’t see the forest for thetrees.” Very often there is a forest growing on the property of our life thatwe cannot see through and therefore cannot escape. It is deep and dark andhinders the formation of the life of faith. Icall it the “Devil’s Forest.” But how does itget there? The same way all those red oaktrees got on our property at Pilgrim’s Rest,they grew from seeds. As we have said already,the moment you were saved, the deed to yourlife was registered in Heaven and belongs to God. Satan cannot get theproperty back, but he can scatter seeds on it that quickly grow into trees,

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hindrances that prohibit the building of the life that God intends for everyBeliever to experience and enjoy. In the next chapter we are going to lookat some of these trees. Each one bears its own poisonous fruit and conveysits own deceptive lie. It only takes one to prevent us from ever taking thefirst step toward a life of faith.

Now before we examine these possible hindrances to faith in your life,let me just tell you that before the first tree came down on our property andbefore the first yard of dirt was moved, Sheila was already at the paint andwallpaper store picking out colors and patterns. She even had little piecesof furniture-shaped paper cut out to scale and was placing them on thefloor plan. Unlike me, she was not really into all that heavy equipmentstuff. She had already jumped way ahead to what she called the “fun part.”

Of course, I thought all that stuffinvolving bulldozers, backhoes,and concrete trucks was the funpart. I guess, however, that’s a“guy thing.” The point is, however,that not one piece of wallpapercould go up and not one roller ofpaint could be applied until theprocess had developed far enough

along to make that possible. So it is in learning to walk by faith. I promiseyou that we will get to the fun part in this process, the part where we areactually seeing God do the impossible. We will speak this faith language.We will stand on top of Faith Mountain and look out across the expanse ofGod’s spiritual world. But first, we must make sure that all the trees arecleared, and we must begin to lay the foundation.

As I said before, you began in faith the moment you asked Jesus intoyour heart, but that was only the beginning. That simple initial act of re-ceiving Christ was like standing on the beach and putting your toe in theocean. There is a vast ocean of experience awaiting you as you move onbeyond receiving Jesus to walking in partnership with Him, trusting theFather for the impossible. There is a world awaiting you that is overflow-ing with wonder and excitement. It is filled with the blessings of God.Listen to the words of Paul in I Corinthians 2:9, “But as it is written [Isaiah64:4], Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heartof man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.”

Our God specializes in working through normal people who

believe in a supernatural Godwho will do His work through them.

Dr. Bruce Wilkinson (4)

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Summary of Truth✥ Our first step in real God-faith is believing on Jesus Christ for

salvation.✥ Without faith it is impossible to please God.✥ Learning to live by faith is the privilege and responsibility of

every child of God.✥ Faith is the language of God and must be learned in order to

communicate with Him.✥ Becoming acclimated to the faith life is a process that takes time.✥ Every Christian is endowed by God with the exact same capac-

ity for faith, for the purpose of bringing glory to Him.✥ The faith life IS the Christian life.✥ If we learn to live by faith it will be because we want to, not

because we have to.✥ It is not enough for our life to belong to God; it must also be

occupied by Him.✥ In order for faith to develop in our life, changes must be made.

We must trust God to do destruction in order for Him to doconstruction.

✥ As we embark upon the climb of faith we will surely encounteropposition from satan.

✥ It is God’s will for us to live by faith.

Now Let’s Take a Moment and Pray Together:

Dear Father, I have undertaken this study because I desireto know more about living by real faith. I believe You haveled me into it and I ask You to help me continue in it. Iadmit to You that the language of faith is not familiar tome, but I am willing to learn. Lord, more than anything, Iwant to live a life that is pleasing to You, that honors Youand that brings glory to You. Lord I ask You to do what-ever DEstruction is necessary in my life in order to makeway for Your CONstruction. Make my life a suitable groundfor the building of a life of real faith that honors You.Thank You, Lord Jesus, for saving me and indwelling me byYour Spirit. Teach me to live by faith. I thank You, and Ilove You, Lord Jesus. In Your Name I pray. Amen.

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Chapter 2Hindrances

Resisting the Lies of the Enemy“Faith is the heroic effort of your life, you fling yourself in reckless

confidence on God. The real meaning of eternal life isa life that can face anything it has to face without wavering.

If we take this view, life becomes one great romance,a glorious opportunity for seeing marvelous things all the time.”

Oswald Chambers (1)

S atan’s aim for every Christian is a life lived apart from the supernatural intervention of God. Previously we made the observation from Scripture that without faith it is impossible to

please God and that living by faith is not only the privilege but also theresponsibility of every child of God. When God’s Word says, “…The just[saved] shall live by faith” (Romans 1:17, Hebrews 10:38, Habakkuk 2:4),He means every Christian, not just a select few. Having that settled, wealso concluded that if we do learn how to live by faith it will ultimately befor one reason, because we want to. Knowing that we can and that weshould will never be enough; there must be a desire that produces a choice.Now we could reasonably ask this question; if a Christian knows that it isnot possible to please God without living by faith, and he has the God-given capacity to do so, and there is a wonderful new world of experiencewaiting for him if he does, then why would he not have the desire andmake the choice? There are several possible reasons which can all begrouped under one heading, satan’s deception. Remember, his ultimate goalfor every Christian is a life that is lived out apart from the intervention ofGod. Why? Because a life lived without the intervention of God producesno glory to God.

Later on we will discuss some things that we will label “enemies offaith.” These are things that oppose real faith once it has actually begun ina Christian’s life. But here we are going to deal with some hindrances thatsatan uses to prevent Believers from ever getting started in the faith life tobegin with. They are like trees growing on the property of our life, propertythat God owns and wants to fully occupy for His own purpose and glory.These trees form the “devil’s forest” that I mentioned previously. I know

that deep within your heart there is a desire to trust God and a longing tosee Him work supernaturally through your life. If that werenot so you would not be reading this book. So why have younot started before now? Perhaps you have fallen victim tosatan’s deception. Are you being hindered by things ofwhich you are not even aware? If you discover that youare, then take heart. All you have to do to remove the hin-drances to faith in your life is to know they exist, claimyour freedom in Christ, and declare that you are going on with God. Now,let’s look at some possible “trees” that may be hindering your beginning infaith.

1. IGNORANCE of the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “You are saved, but there is no need to go any further.”Result – Form of godliness with no power.There are multitudes in the modern church who do not live by faith

simply because they do not know about it. They do not know that the pos-sibility of the faith life even exists, and they have gone no further becausetheir eyes have been blinded to the fact that there is any further to go. It iseasy to be satisfied with where you are if you don’t know that there isanything better. That is the case with many Christians, because the prin-ciples of faith and the truths of the faith life are not taught or preached intheir churches. Also, they have never heard testimonies of God’s miracu-lous intervention or His supernatural provision, and they have never hadan opportunity to read the biographies of the ordinary men and women inChristian history who lived extraordinary lives of faith. There have beenmany great books written over the years chronicling the wonderful ex-ploits of faith in the lives of those who have dared to believe God, butsatan has kept them virtually hidden from the Christian mainstream. Hedoes not want God’s church at large to know just how practical and pro-ductive it is to trust in the Living God. If that news ever gets out, thekingdom of darkness is in trouble. Dear Christian, one of satan’s mosteffective ways of hindering you from beginning in faith is to just keep itstruths hidden from you.

2. INCORRECTNESS regarding the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “Faith is praying until you receive what you desire.”Result – False concept of the faith life.

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We are not going to spend much time on this topic because it will becovered in detail later. Suffice it to say that there are many misconceptionsabout faith, and there is a lot of incorrect teaching. If satan cannot keep thetruth of the faith life hidden from you, then he will try to distort it. A veryeffective ploy of the devil in robbing the church of a dynamic legitimatefaith walk is to place an out of balance emphasis on my hopes and desiresin connection with trusting God. Real faith is based upon the will of God,not my will. It is for the expansion of HIS Kingdom, not mine. Many timeswell meaning Christians try to live by what they believe to be faith, buttheir faith is misplaced or misdirected. Therefore, it produces nothing andends in disappointment and defeat. Well, dear reader, as you continue inthis study you will discover real faith, and I promise you will not be disap-pointed.

3. INVOLVEMENT without the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “The important thing is to be busy working for God.”Result – Fleshly activity that does not glorify God.The very first instruction that most new Christians receive is that they

need to hurry up and get involved and get busy for the Lord. So, beforelong, we are all just like little “Energizer Bunnies”; we are going and go-ing, attending and attending, doing and doing, serving and serving. We arebeating our little drums and making a lot of noise, but in actuality we areaccomplishing little for the glory of God. Why? Because, so much of whatwe are doing is being accomplished out of our own energy and resources.We are led by our own intellect and feeling rather than by the Spirit of God.Before we realize what has happened, we have gotten caught up in doingrather than being. We are not told that we are to be anything; we are justsupposed to show up and do things. Our Christian life has become basedentirely upon behavior rather than believing. Sadly, many churches mea-sure success by the same measuring stick that the world uses; attendance,income, programs, and buildings. Unfortunately, these things often testifyto man’s achievement rather than God’s faithfulness. Millions of Chris-tians across the world are never taught that the most important thing intheir life is their personal relationship with God and learning to trust Himby faith.

So is it not a good thing to be involved in work for God? Yes, of courseit is, and we should be, but only if our involvement and our activity isinitiated by God and carried out by faith in accordance with His will through

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the guidance and power of the Holy Spirit. That is the only way it bringsglory to God. Anything else is just fleshly religious activity. The only Chris-tian work done for God that brings glory to God is that which is done byGod through the Believer.

We must learn that the secret to the Christian life is not our workingfor God, but it is God working through us. “For it is God which worketh inyou both to will and to do of his good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13). Areyou so busy in “service” to the Lord that you do not have time to wait uponHim, to know His will, and then act according to what He tells you? If so,then it is very likely you are being hindered from faith. Ask yourself, “Whyam I doing all that I am doing? Is it a result of God telling me in my spiritto do it? Or, am I just responding to the requests and expectations of men,the needs I see before me, and my own desire to do something for God?” InI Corinthians 3:12, Paul warns us that there are two kinds of work for God.He calls one “gold, silver, precious stones” (work that will last), and theother he calls “wood, hay, stubble” (that which will not last). In verse 13we are told “Every man’s work shall be made manifest; for the day shalldeclare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try everyman’s work of what sort it is.” Only the life of faith produces work thatlasts. Ask yourself this question, “Am I living a life of trusting God toexecute HIS will through me, or am I just busy?” Involvement is good aslong as it is according to God’s will and does not hinder you from a life ofreal faith.

4. INDOCTRINATION against the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “God does not speak to you in your heart.”Result – Failure to recognize the ministry of the indwelling Holy Spirit.Many children of God have been indoctrinated against the truth of

faith by listening to misguided teaching that is set forth in an effort tocounteract extremes and false doctrine concerning faith. Some wouldhave us believe that God, by His Spirit, does not make His specific willknown to individual Believers. If that were true then real faith would beimpossible because faith is simply acting upon the received will of God. Itis persuasion of fact (God’s will) followed by corresponding action (be-lieving). Some Christians have been led to believe that they cannot hearfrom God personally and directly. In other words, the Holy Spirit speakingthe will of God in our hearts (the inner man, Ephesians 3:16) is unneces-sary, in fact impossible, and the written Word of God is all there is. They

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have been taught that we are supposed to just read the Bible and apply it asbest we can to our situation, without the inner guidance of the Holy Spirit,and then do what we think is right. Not only does this leave the Christianon his own to determine the course of his life, it places him exactly wheresatan wants him to be. This narrow view of God’s interaction in our life hasbeen adopted by many in reaction to another equally erroneous position.The opposite extreme is that whatever I think God has said to me or that Ifeel good and positive about is OK, even if it contradicts God’s writtenword. This view places the Christian in extreme danger of hearing a liefrom the devil and believing it because it sounds good. So you see, oneerroneous extreme fosters overreaction by another causing division, dis-cord, and polarization in the Body of Christ. In the end, the only one whowins is satan because he has deceived both sides. The truth is that both arewrong and do not live by real faith, because real faith requires knowing thewill of God first and acting upon it. The Holy Spirit will reveal the will ofGod to your inner man, and it will never contradict the written Word ofGod. This is the balanced life of faith. Have you been hindered from realfaith by one wrong teaching or another? The truth lies between the twopoints, and you are going to discover it as you continue this study.

5. INTELLECTUALISM instead of the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “We must always do what makes the most sense.”Result – Focus upon logic and reason rather than trusting God.Intellectualism is the enthronement of reason over the truth of faith.

How many times have you heard some well-meaning church leader standup and say, “Yes we need to pray, but we must also use good business-sense?” Or you may have heard some one say “We really don’t have to prayabout that, it’s a no-brainer. It just makes sense.” Or what about this one,“Yes we do need to trust God, but we also need to be practical and usegood common-sense. God did give us a brain, you know.” Yes, God didgive us a brain, but He also gave us a spirit. And, as we will observe indepth later on, it is the spirit of man that He communicates with and re-veals His will to, not the mind or emotions. If you are living your Christianlife within the confines of merely what you can reason, think or figure out,then you are stopping short of where God wants you to go and are living avery limited life.

Some Christians tend to value great learning over child-like faith in aloving Heavenly Father. They sometimes look upon those who choose to

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trust God by simple faith as immature, inferior, or lacking in intelligence.If you have been guilty of harboring that kind of attitude, or if you havefallen victim to it, I would encourage you to read the biographies of themen and women who have made the greatest impact on the world for JesusChrist. You will find that many of them did not hold high degrees and mostof them did not always abide by “good common-sense.” In fact many, atfirst, were called foolish by their learned peers, who later had to recant inthe face of all God did through their lives. In I Corinthians 1:20 Paul askeda probing question, “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is thedisputer [learned one] of this world? hath not God made foolish the wis-dom of this world?” Then in verse 27 he tells us, “But God hath chosen thefoolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen theweak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty.” Dearchild of God, do not be afraid to be numbered among those who would becalled foolish for believing that God still works miracles and performs theimpossible. According to the Apostle Paul, it is not a bad group to be in. Infact, that is just the very group God is looking for. It is this group thatultimately makes it to the top of Faith Mountain.

When Hudson Taylor, founder of the China Inland Mission, was aboutto depart for his first trip to China at age twenty-one, he shared with anelderly minister what he was about to do. When the elder brother askedhow he intended to support himself, Hudson Taylor told him that he wasgoing by faith, trusting God to supply all his needs. The man said, “Someday you will be older and wiser and you will see that that won’t work.”After forty years of trusting God by faith, never asking any man for any-thing, and being used of God to place hundreds of missionaries in China,Mr. Taylor remembered what the man had said. Then he said, “He waspartly right, I have grown older, but I am no wiser because I still believethat I can trust God by simple faith to meet all my needs.”

So are we saying that we should not use our intellect? Are we sayingwe should not study and learn and use our brain? No, not at all. What weARE saying, however, is that reason and intellectualism should not be al-lowed to take the place of simply trusting God with child-like faith. Ourintellect is not at odds with faith. God gave us our mind to use for servingHim and for relating to the physical world we live in. It is not our intellectthat opposes faith; it is intellectualism - the use of intellect to the exclusionof trusting God. In referring to His followers, Jesus repeatedly used theword “children.” In I John the author used the expression “little children”

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nine times in referring to followers of Christ. Then in Ephesians 5:1 wefind Paul instructing the church to “Be ye therefore followers of God, asdear children.” The message from Scripture is clear. God wants us to trustHim as a child trusts his father – by faith, not by “figuring.” If you arewilling to humble yourself, become like a child, and learn to trust God bysimple faith, this study is going to show you how.

6. INTIMIDATION by the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “Faith will work for others, but not for you.”Result – Fear of becoming a disappointment to yourself and to God.Most people are afraid of three basic things – the unknown, rejection,

and failure. Some Christians are afraid of living by faith because they don’tknow anything about it. It is simply unknown territory to them. Others,such as those in the indoctrinated group or the common-sense crowd, maybe afraid of being thought of as strange or foolish. But then there are someChristians who experience another type of fear – the fear of failure. Theymay be part of a Christian fellowship that actually embraces the truth ofthe faith life and would readily support their efforts to live by faith, butthey are still afraid to try it for themselves. They have seen it “work” forothers and have heard and read encouraging testimonies regarding the va-lidity of simply trusting God, but there is a hesitancy in making the attemptthemselves. Why? Because the devil has convinced them that it won’t“work” for them and they are going to end up looking foolish. Satan tellsthem that it is all just too hard and they will never get it right. Of coursethat is a lie. God has called and enabled every child of His to live by faith,but there are those who don’t because they are afraid they will fail and Godwill be disappointed in them. I promise you that you cannot fail at faith,because God, by His indwelling Spirit, has equipped you for it. You haveabsolutely nothing to lose in trusting God by faith. He will respond to youwith nothing but love and encouragement for making even the feeblestattempt at faith. Look again at that crowd gathered in Hebrews eleven.They were just as ordinary as you and me, and they did not all succeed thefirst time out. But they did eventually, and they all ended up in the “Hall ofFaith.” If satan has stopped you with fear, then right now stand up andresist that fear on the ground of the cross of Jesus. Say out loud, “I willtrust God by faith!” As you continue in this study you will discover justhow to make that statement come true.

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7. INDIFFERENCE towards the truth of faith.....Satan’s lie: “We should be content to just accept whatever God sends.”Result – Fatalistic view of God’s will and plan for our life.To say, “I’ll just take whatever God sends” may sound good, but in

reality it is not good, because it is not faith. Real faith is knowing the willof God and then trusting Him to perform it. Statements like the one aboveare only made by complacent Christians. They live clean, moral, doctri-nally correct lives and are well thought of in their churches. On one end ofthe spectrum are those whose good Christian lives form a neat and attrac-tive package, and many are well supplied with all they want and need.These Christians (and often their churches) have all the money, talent, andresources to do whatever they desire to do. So why change anything? Ascomfortable as the status quo is, it must be right. At the other end of thespectrum are those who think it is holy and righteous to barely get by. Theybelieve that God is somehow pleased by their willingness to do withoutand their acceptance of whatever happens as “from the Lord.” At both endsof this spectrum, though, God receives no glory. Your Heavenly Fatherdoes not want you to live a passive life of “just taking what comes.” Hewants to reveal His will, His plan, and His purpose to you and work throughyou in His eternal enterprises. He wants to draw you into the aggressive,conquering, dynamic life of faith. He wants to use you in the building ofHis kingdom. If you have gone through your Christian life thus far with a“take it or leave it” attitude concerning faith, then ask God to forgive youand to help you embrace the life He so wants to give you. God does notwant you to live a self-satisfied or self-sacrificed life; He wants you to livea sanctified life, which means a life that continues in the faith that led youto Jesus in the first place.

8. INDECISION about the truth of faith.Satan’s lie: “Yes you should enter the life of faith, but do it later.”Result – Forfeited life of faith.The sooner you make the choice to live the life of faith, the sooner you

begin living a life that brings glory and honor to God. Every day you post-pone your decision is another day of opportunity lost in establishing a freshand present testimony to the faithfulness of God. Why wait another hour inmaking your decision to enter the only life that is truly pleasing to God, alife that makes room for His supernatural intervention? Why wait any longer

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to enter a life that will bring you more joy than you have ever imagined?Make the choice, do it now! Do not forfeit the extraordinary life that youwere born to possess. Do not be deterred from a life that depends on Godalone and operates by His supernatural intervention. From the very begin-ning, satan’s goal was to create in man a spirit of independence from God,an attitude of self-reliance and an absence of faith. Oswald Chambers re-minds us, “Every element of self-reliance must be slain by the power ofGod. Complete weakness and dependence will always be the occasion forthe Spirit of God to manifest His power” (2).

Timberrrrr!!!Now, I ask you to go back and review satan’s most often used lies and

allow the Holy Spirit to show you if you have fallen victim to any of them.If you have, then take a standagainst the lies of the devil. Goto your knees in prayer and askGod to clear those lies away inorder to make room for faith.As you do, you will hear thetrees crashing in the devil’s for-est. Yes, the trees are comingdown. As you continue in thisstudy you are going to learn who you are in Christ. You are going to dis-cover what you have in Christ. You are going to learn to walk in Christ.And you are going to learn to live by the faith of Christ. You are going todiscover how to fight the “good fight of faith.”

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Summary of Truth✥ Satan puts hindrances in the lives of Christians to prevent them

from discovering the joy and freedom of trusting God forthe miraculous and the impossible. The hindrances are:

IGNORANCE of the truth of faithINCORRECTNESS regarding the truth of faithINVOLVEMENT without the truth of faithINDOCTRINATION against the truth of faithINTELLECTUALISM instead of the truth of faithINTIMIDATION by the truth of faithINDIFFERENCE towards the truth of faithINDECISION about the truth of faith

✥ The result of believing satan’s lies is a powerless, fruitless lifethat brings no honor and no glory to God.

✥ The hindrances can be removed by making the simple choice tobelieve that God has given every Christian the power andprivilege of living by faith.

✥ I have made that choice, and through this study I am going todiscover how to know the will of God and trust Him for theimpossible.

Now Let’s Take a Moment and Pray Together:

Dear Father, I thank You again for saving me and I ask You tocreate a burning desire in me to live by simple faith in You.Reveal to me by Your Spirit all that has been hidden from me bybelieving satan’s lies. Deliver me from all fleshly activity. Teachme the difference between my working for You and Your work-ing through me. Help me to understand the ministry of the HolySpirit in my life, and protect me from false teachings concern-ing faith. Lord, teach me how to make the choice of faith ratherthan relying solely on reason and common sense. Deliver mefrom the fear of failure. Give me the courage to step out andtrust You with child-like faith. Help me to never again justtake things as they come but to boldly believe You for the mi-raculous and impossible. And Lord, help me to start right now.I renounce and refuse all lies from the devil, and I choose toreceive from You everything You want to reveal to me throughthis study in faith. Lord, I love You and I thank You for theprivilege of trusting You. In Your powerful Name I pray. Amen.

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